Regular Board Meeting
November 14, 2012
January
COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT NO. 11
PIERCE COLLEGE
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
April 10, 2013
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT
Amadeo Tiam
Angie Roarty
Jackie Rosenblatt
Steve Smith
COLLEGE OFFICERS
PRESENT
Dr. Michele Johnson, District Chancellor
Ms. Denise Yochum, President Fort Steilacoom
Ms. Colette Pierce Burnette, President Puyallup
Dr. Debra Gilchrist, VP for Learning and Student Success FS
Dr. Carol Green, VP for Learning and Student Success PUY
Ms. Joann Wiszmann, Vice President for Administrative Services
Mr. Bryan Torell, Chief Job Representative WPEA
Ms. Beth Norman, President PCFT
OTHERS PRESENT Terry Ryan, John McMahon, Kelly Benson, James Johnson, Erica McBride, Patrick Carter, James Lett, April Lawrence, Kris Cummings, Sabrina Stevenson, Mike Stocke, Cameron Cox, Sean Cooke, Michael Alkire, Nicole Ortega, Christopher Medina, Ashlyn Doltar, Ed Bachmann, Marie Harris
CALL TO ORDER Mr. Tiam called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm.
PLEDGE OF Mr. Tiam led the group in the pledge.
ALLEGIANCE
QUORUM A quorum was established.
CHANGES/ADDITIONS A Military Program report will be given by President Yochum.
MEETING MINUTES Ms. Rosenblatt moved and Ms. Roarty seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the March 13, 2013 Regular Board meeting with noted correction.
MOTION PASSED
INTRODUCTIONS Mr. McMahon introduced new employees at the military site.
COLLEGE INPUT AND REPORTS
ASPCFS (Reported by Nicole Ortega)
Ms. Ortega reported that Spring quarter has gotten off to a great start, the student activities board has many events planned throughout the quarter. Some of the events are: virtual gaming, movie night, free hugs day, and earth day activities.
Ms. Ortega stated that there will be a variety of activities during civics week, including a dinner with Representative Hans Zieger and President Yochum, voter registration, and a visit with the League of Women voters. She extended an invitation to the Board to attend the dinner.
ASPCP (Reported by Michael Alkire)
Mr. Alkire reported that during Spring quarter there will be many activities focused on the common book- The Nature Principles, including showing the movie “The Lorax”, giving out seeds, and hosting the author in the theatre. There will be several activities regarding drunk driving prevention.
Mr. Alkire stated that recruitment for student leaders for the 2013-2014 academic year is underway. Applications are available and a selection process will begin later in the quarter.
Mr. Smith expressed his appreciation to Mr. Alkire for his speech during the legislative lunch in Olympia. Mr. Alkire did a great job speaking on behalf of students. Mr. Alkire noted that legislators really care about citizens and like to hear student stories; it assists them in their decision-making.
PCFT President (Reported by Beth Norman)
Ms. Norman stated that many faculty participated in the discussions regarding engagement. They gathered data about student’s goals and other AtD strategies. She noted that conversations are taking place regarding our Start-to-Finish model and how to best use the skills of our faculty councilor advisors. Their relationships with students are critical to retention.
Ms. Norman reported that faculty is pleased with the ability to hire full-time faculty. Many folks across the district are serving on screening committees and attending meet-n-greets. The candidate pools have many highly qualified instructors in them. She noted that eleven positions are going to filled but it is the hope of the faculty that the number may be increased to fourteen to sixteen.
Ms. Norman noted that during Spring quarter union elections will take place which are on a two-year cycle. In closing, she noted the positive direction of the state budget for higher education.
WPEA Representative (Reported by Bryan Torell)
Mr. Torell reported that the Labor Management committee met in March to discuss issues and concerns of Classified Staff regarding the Collective Bargaining Agreement, topics covered were:
· December closure over the holiday period – discussion of pros and cons
· With the new agreement, we will be able to add a fourth person to LMCC
· Due to the re-organization process throughout the District and the changes it brought to processes, we discussed the importance of having current PDP’s, Performance Development Plans. These are a very important component in setting clear goals and expectations for Staff and creating clear communication in the department.
· Reaffirmed of the contract language in that employee’s not be disciplined without just cause and making a reasonable effort to protect the privacy of the employees
· Email notification process regarding General Membership meetings to administration
· June 1st Saturday class offerings This class time was arranged to help offset the 3% impact to affected employee’s.
Mr. Torell stated that Shop Stewards will be meeting to review the survey results. A meeting will be scheduled with the Chancellor and Presidents soon to discuss the survey outcomes. The survey will be posted in staff break rooms at all sites for employees. A communication will go out to staff to inform them how to get survey results sent to their home email. The survey will be shared with Board at a future meeting.
SETTING DIRECTION/VISION
Chancellor’s Report
Dr. Johnson stated that Spring quarter is off to a very busy start. Enrollment continues to trend about 3% less than last year. Our overall state system has had this small decrease in enrollment, although Running Start enrollment continues to be up about 2%.Tenure receptions were held on each campus to honor our newly tenured faculty and those continuing in the process.
Dr. Johnson reported that we are in a hiring frenzy. In trying to fill 11 tenure-tack faculty positions, we are having multiple interviews daily with a new meet and greet process so college members can meet and welcome the candidates to campus. We are looking for some new skill abilities for our faculty. In addition, to their expertise in their given discipline, we want individuals who understand and can implement innovations in teaching and learning strategies, including community involvement and technology. The executive team hires are also following along as scheduled. In the coming week, we will bring four presidential candidates to Puyallup for a full day of a tour, interviews, lunch with the executive team, open forums, meet and greet and dinner with college and community members. The Vice President for Administrative Services search is moving into the final interview stage. Four finalists have been identified and will be coming to campus for interviews, open forums and meet and greets. The Vice President for Learning and Student Success at Puyallup search is completing Skype interviews and finalists should be announced next week. Vice President for Human Resources closes next week and screening of applicants will begin. Dr. Johnson is still reviewing the structure of Advancement and the Foundation to determine the specific duties and responsibilities for that Vice President position. She will keep the Board informed on any changes we make in the position.
Dr. Johnson stated that close to a hundred individuals in total have participated in the focused subgroups that are drafting the strategies for our Achieving the Dream three-year implementation plan. The draft plan is due to the coaches April 18 for input and review and then to ATD by May 15. The plan focuses on four areas of start-to- finish (orientation, advising, and college success class), pre-college math, pre-college English and reading, and basic skills ESL transition. Engagement across the district is an overarching theme.
Dr. Johnson stated that groups across the district have been preparing their draft responses to our accreditation standards for the year three visit in the fall. That visit is now going to be a “remote” visit. Therefore, we’re working to be sure all documents are electronically available and we plan to create several short video vignettes to give a “flavor” of the college. The next steps are to review all the drafts and assign the writing to a single person to give the document a “single voice.” Dr. Johnson plans to bring the governance and leadership section to the May study session for Board input and feedback.
Dr. Johnson reported that internal budget hearings will begin next week. She provided some information to frame that conversation. We now have a budget from Governor Inslee and from the Senate Majority Caucus. The House released their budget today and will have a hearing as well. I have preliminary information that it is not very favorable for higher education. We will know more once the SBCTC has had an opportunity to review the particulars. As no surprise, neither the governor’s nor the senate’s budgets include our $197 million policy request; however, both are an improvement from last year. The 3% salary cut and the one-time cuts are restored. There’s also new money for STEM. The governor provides it without new FTE targets and the senate has tied their increase to new FTE. The Senate gives and also takes away money and assumes LEAN efficiencies. Tuition is still a wild card. The senate has a bill to reduce tuition by 3% to help bring the GET program in line. We of course want to keep tuition as low as possible to support students, but it’s always a balance between the state allocation and tuition. Together they provide the revenue to operate our college. Changes will impact our ability to service students.
Dr. Johnson stated that the capital budget continues to mirror governor Gregorie’s first budget, all projects except Olympic College are on the list. We of course want to get Olympic College funded because it will provide more capacity for our future projects. Master planning committees, led by the Presidents and Mr. Taylor are occurring on both campuses, in anticipation of project requests for the 2015-17 biennium.
Dr. Johnson noted that many of the bills we were concerned about have not been moved forward. But a bill is never dead until after the budget is final because something can come forward to “implement the budget.”Our three trustees have been moved from higher education committee, to rules, and are waiting final confirmation. She has contacted Senator Becker who has forwarded our request to Senator Bailey to get the trustees on the floor for a vote. They still have time to get these through. They’re doing about four or five a day. She noted what a great job during the trustees did at their hearings.
Pierce College 2013-2014 Operating Budget Planning Process
Ms. Wiszmann gave an update on the various budget processes and engaged the Board in discussion regarding those processes.
Internal process:
· Instructions – included both an opportunity for departments to request money for new initiatives – and asked them to describe how they would address a 2.5% reduction. A 2.5% reduction is equivalent to about $940,000.
· Presentations – will begin next week and the following. Fee requests will be presented first, in order to allow time for review by Student Government and Cabinet. The board can expect to see an agenda item at its May meeting.
· Deliberations – the Budget team can productively deliberate through about mid-May. After that, we will need to know what’s in the state budget.
State Budget
· Prior to today, have seen two Governors’ budgets and the Senate proposal
· House proposal was released today (at noon). She scanned through the publicly available information – the SBCTC will be able to see more detail and will send us a more detailed summary later today.
· For now, it appears the House proposes to: restore the 3% salary cuts, increase tuition by 3%, fund some STEM enrollments, include some funding for the Student Achievement initiative, no further cuts to CTCs.
· All the budgets propose to delegate authority to approve fees back to the Boards of Trustees. However, if the budget hasn’t passed prior to the Board taking action on fees in May, you can expect to see some qualifying language, e.g., “pending passage of the state budget”.
Ms. Wiszmann stated that so far, the college is on track to bring the budget to the Board at its June meeting, but it will depend on whether there is a special session and how long it goes.
BOARD ACTION
Assessing Fees and Services
Board Action 2013-04 Pierce College Technology Fee
Ms. Rosenblatt moved and Mr. Smith seconded the motion to approve the 2013-2014 Technology Fee Budget as presented. MOTION PASSED
Mr. Stocke gave an overview of recommendations of the Fort Steilacoom, Puyallup, and District budgets. He acknowledged the thoughtful and strategic decisions the students made on behalf of their fellow and future students of Pierce College. At Puyallup they will be funding thirteen projects totaling $332,690 with a $43,042 contingency fund. At Fort Steilacoom they will be funding nineteen projects totaling $339,212 with a $23,084 contingency fund. The committee has recommended funding of $210,367 district projects which as defined as projects that support district-wide infrastructure and provide the backbone for student technology enhancement.
Mr. Cox and Mr. Cooke noted that as part of the process the committee members toured areas where new technology would be installed and had two demonstrations. While visiting the tutoring center they noted the lack of quality computers so agreed to utilize some of the contingency fund to fund upgraded computers for the center. It was also mentioned that there was great collaboration between the two campuses and a very productive process.
Ms. Rosenblatt acknowledged the work and involvement of students, which speaks volumes of the engagement of students across the district. She noted the strategic planning that students engage in to ensure future students have quality technology for their learning experience at Pierce College. She also expressed her excited regarding the community use of the facilities particularly the Science Dome.
Board Action 2013-05 Sabbatical for Mr. Anthony Granata
Ms. Rosenblatt moved and Ms. Roarty seconded the motion to approve sabbatical leave for academic year 2013-2014 for Anthony Granata.
MOTION PASSED
The purpose of Mr. Granata’s sabbatical will be to research and construct placement charts that will allow students fresh out of high school to use high school math grades for initial placement into Pierce College math courses. This work will align with our Achieving the Dream initiatives.